ft it 
ae 


Sanctification 


By 


Adam Clarke 


PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE 
PENTECOSTAL CHURCH of the NAZARENE 
2109 Troost Avenue 
Kansas City, 

Missouri 


THE FLOWERS COLLECTION 


CONTENTS 


Oa 

CHAPTER. PAGE. 
LO EMINITIONS. . Seat eels eee oee 5 
lS Sin A DISEASE. OEMDEY SOUN= a2es= = ee 12 
eS ORIHOTIONS_ _ Seen ne ae ee ee 15 
iNest PAun MIsgNDERSTOODe 22222. Sees 21 
Ne am DG LUN ESS On GODEt es ea es ee eee 27 
NIRS SARVATION. MROMs Ine] 2s. eae oe meee 31 
Vil Dam Remepy Aprquamn ==. 22552: 5 ee 37 
Nalhice Wir We Sadun pe Hone see 40 
EXC ACS GT __ _ Ree os ee eee a Le 44 
x UNGCESSIrY OP SANCTINICATION= 2-25" 25= 5 oes 51 
2 Somm MisconG@epmons.— <2 se ee 55 


XII. Tue Bressing Opstarmwasty Now__-__----__ 60 


SANCTIFICATION 
CHAPTER I. 
DEFINITIONS 


The word “sanctify” has two meanings. 1. It 
signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and 
common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and 
his service. 2. It signifies to make holy or pure. 

Many talk much, and indeed well, of what 
Christ has done for us; but how little is spoken 
of what he is to do in us! and yet all that he has 
done for us is in reference to what he is to do in 
us. He was incarnated, suffered, died, and rose 
again from the dead; ascended to heaven, and 
there appears in the presence of God for us. These 
were all saving, atoning, and mediating acts for 
us; that he might reconcile us to God; that he 
might blot out our sin; that he might purge our 
consciences from dead works; that he might bind 
the strong man armed—take away the armor in 
which he trusted, wash the polluted heart, destroy 
every foul and abominable desire, all tormenting 
and unholy tempers; that he might make the 
heart his throne, fill the soul with his hght, pow- 
er, and life; and, in a word, “destroy the works 

5 


6 SANCTIFICATION 


of the devil.” These are done in us; without which 
we can not be saved unto eternal life. But these 
acts done in us are consequent on the acts done 
for us; for had He not been incarnated, suffered, 
and died in our stead, we could not receive either 
pardon or holiness; and did he not cleanse and 
purify our hearts; we could not enter into the 
place where all is purity; for the beatific vision 
is given to them only who are purified from all 
unrighteousness; for it is written, “Blessed: are 
the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Noth- 
ing is purified by death; nothing in the grave; 
nothing in heaven. The living stones of the tem- 
ple, like those of that at Jerusalem, are hewn, 
squared, and cut here, in the Church militant, to 
prepare them to enter into the composition of the 
Church triumphant. 

This perfection is the restoration of man to the 
state of holiness from which he fell, by creating 
him anew in Christ Jesus, and restoring to him 
that image and likeness of God which he has lost. 
A higher meaning than this it can not have; a 
lower meaning it must not have. God made man 
in that degree of perfection which was pleasing to 
his own infinite wisdom and goodness. Sin de- 
faced this divine image: Jesus came to restore it. 
Sin must have no triumph; and the Redeemer of 


SANCTIPICATION 7 


mankind must have his glory. But if man be not 
perfectly saved from all sin, sin does triumph, 
and Satan exult, because they have done a mis- 
chief that Christ either can not or will not re- 
move. To say he can not, would be shocking 
blasphemy against the infinite power and dignity 
of the great Creator; to say he will not, would 
be equally such against the infinite benevolence 
and holiness of his nature. All sin, whether in 
power, guilt, or defilement, is the work of the 
devil; and he, Jesus came to destroy the work of 
the devil; and as all unrighteousness is sin, so his 
blood cleanseth from all sin, because it cleanseth 
from all unrighteousness. 

Many stagger at the term perfection in Chris- 
tianity; because they think that what is implied 
in it is inconsistent with a state of probation, and 
savors of pride and presumption; but we must 
take good heed how we stagger at any word of 
God; and much more how we deny or fritter away 
the meaning of any of his sayings, lest he re- 
prove us, and we be found lars before him. But 
it may be that the term is rejected because it is 
not understood. Let us examine its import. 

The word “perfection,” in reference to any 
person or thing, signifies that such person or 
thing is complete or finished; that it has nothing 


8 SANCTIFICATION 


redundant, and is in nothing defective. And 
hence the observation of a learned civilian is at 
once both correct and illustrative, namely, “We 
count those things perfect which want nothing 
requisite for the end whereto they were insti- 
tuted.” And to be perfect often signifies “to be 
blameless, clear, irreproachable;” and, according 
to the above definition of Hooker, a man may be 
said to be perfect who answers the end for which 
God made him; and as God requires every man 
to love him with all his heart, soul, mind, and 
strength, and his neighbor as himself; then he is 
a perfect man that does so; he answers the end 
for which God made him; and this is more eyi- 
dent from the nature of that love which fills his 
heart; for as love is the principle of obedience, so 
he that loves his God with all his powers will obey 
him with all his powers; and he who loves his 
neighbor as himself will not only do no injury 
to him, but, on the contrary, labor to promote his 
best interests. Why the doctrine which enjoins 
such a state of perfecticn as this should be dread- 
ed, or ridiculed, or despised, is a most strange 
thing; and the opposition to it can only be from 
that carnal mind that is enmity to God; “that is 
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
be.” And had I no other proof that man is fallen 


SANCTIFICATION 9 


fron God, his opposition to Christian holiness 
wold be to me sufficient. 

The whole design of God was to restore man to 
his image, and raise him from the ruins of his 
fall; in a word, to make him perfect; to blot out 
all his sins, purify his soul, and fill him with 
holiness; so that no unholy temper, evil desire, or 
impure affection or passion shall either lodge, or 
have any being within him; this, and this only, 
is true religion, or Christian perfection; and a 
less salvation than this would be dishonorable to 
the sacrifice of Christ, and the operation of the 
Holy Ghost; and would be as unworthy the ap- 
pellation of “Christianity,” as it would be of that 
of “holiness or perfection.” They who ridicule 
this are scoffers at the word of God; many of them 
totally irreligious men, sitting in the seat of the 
scornful. They who deny it, deny the whole scope 
and design of divine revelation and the mission 
of Jesus Christ. And they who preach the op- 
posite doctrine, are either speculative Antinom- 
ians, or pleaders for Baal. 

When St. Paul says he “warns every man, and 
teaches every man in all wisdom, that he may pre- 
sent every man PERFECT in Christ Jesus,” he must 
mean something. What, then, is this something? 
It must mean “that holiness without which none 


10 SANCTIFICATION 


shall see the Lord.’ Call it by what name we 
please, it must imply the pardon of all trans- 
gression, and the removal of the whole body of 
sin and death; for this must take place before we 
can be like him, and see him as he is, in the efful- 
gence of his own glory. This fitness, then, to ap- 
pear before God, and thorough preparation for 
eternal glory, is what I plead for, pray for, and 
heartily recommend to all true believers, under 
the name of CAristian perfection. Had I a better 
name, one more energetic, one with a greater 
plentitude of meaning, one more worthy of the 
efficacy of the blood that bought our peace, and 
cleanseth from all unrighteousness, I would glad- 
ly adopt and use it. Even the word “perfection” 
has, in some relations, so many qualifications and 
abatements that can not comport with that full 
and glorious salvation recommended in the gos- 
pel, and bought and sealed by the blood of the 
cross, that I would gladly lay it by, and employ a 
word more positive and unequivocal in its mean- 
ing, and more worthy of the merit of the infinite 
atonement of Christ, and of the energy of the 
almighty Spirit; but there is none in our lan- 
guage; which I deplore as an inconvenience and 
a loss. 

Why, then, are there so many, even among sin- 


SANCTIFICATION 11 


cere and godly ministers and people, who are so 
much opposed te the term, and so much alarmed 
at the profession? I answer, Because they think 
no man can be fully saved from sin in this life. 
I ask, Where is this, in unequivocéal words, writ- 
ten in the New Testament? Where, in that book, 
is 1t intimated that sin is never wholly destroyed 
till death takes place, and the soul and the body 
are separated? No where. In the Popish, base- 
less doctrine of purgatory, this doctrine, not with 
more rational consequences, is held—this dectrine 
allows that, so inveterate is sin, it can not be 
wholly destroyed, even in death; and that a penal 
fire, in a middle state between heaven and hell, 
is necessary to atone for that which the blood of 
Christ has not canceled; and to purge from that 
which the energy of the almighty Spirit had not 
cleansed before death. 


CHAPTER If 
SIN A DISEASE OF THE SOUL 


Even Papists could not see that a moral evil 
was detained in the soul through its physical con- 
nection with the body; and that it required the 
dissolution of this physical connection before the 
moral contagion could be removed. Protestants, 
who profess, and most certainly possess, a better 
faith, are they alone that maintain the death-bed 
purgatory; and how positively do they hold out 
death as the complete deliverer from all corrup- 
tion, and the final destroyer of sin, as if it were 
revealed in every page of the Bible! Whereas, 
there is not one passage in the sacred volume that 
says any such thing. Were this true, then death, 
far from being the last enemy, would be the last 
and best friend, and the greatest of all deliverers; 
for if the last remains of all the indwelling sin of 
all believers is to be destroyed by death—and a 
fearful mass this will make—then’ death, that 
removes it, must be the highest benefactor of man- 
kind. The truth is, he is neither the cause nor 


the means of its destruction. It is the blood of 
12 


SANCTIFICATION 13 


Jesus alone that cleanseth from all unrighteous- 
ness. 

It is supposed that indwelling sin is useful even 
to true believers, because it humbles them and 
keeps them low in their own estimation. A little 
examination will show that this is contrary to 
the fact. It is generally, if not universally al- 
lowed, that pride is of the essence of sin, if not 
its very essence; and the root whence all moral 
obliquity flows. How, then, can pride humble 
us? Is not this absurd? Where is there a sin- 
cere Christian, be his creed what it may, that does 
not deplore his proud, rebellious, and unsubdued 
heart and will, as the cause of all his wretched- 
ness; the thing that mars his best sacrifices, and 
prevents is communion with God? How often 
do such people say or sing, both in their public 
and private devotions: 


“But pride, that busy sin, 
Spoils all that I perform!” 


Were there no pride, there would be no sin: and 
the heart from which it is cast out has the humil- 
ity, meekness, and gentleness of Christ implanted 
in its stead. 

But still it is alleged, as an indubitable fact, 
that “a man is humbled under a sense of indwell- 


14 SANCTIFICATION 


ing sin.” I grant that they who see, and feel, and 
deplore their indwelling sin, are humbled; but 
is it the sin that humbles? No. It is the grace of 
God, that shows and condemns the sin, that hum- 
bles us. Neither the devil nor his work will ever 
show themselves. Pride works frequently under 
a dense mask, and will often assume the garb of 
humility. How true is that saying, and of how 
many is it the language: 


“Proud I am my wants to see— 
Proud of my humility!” 


And, to conceal his working, even Satan himself is 
transformed into an angel of light! It appears 
then that we attribute this boasted humiliation to 
a wrong cause. We never are humbled under a 
sense of indwelling sin till the Spirit of God 
drags it to the light, and shows us, not only its 
horrid deformity, but its hostility to God; and 
he manifests it that he may take it away; but a 
false opinion causes men to hug the monster, and 
to contemplate their chains with complacency ! 


CHAPTER III 
OBJECTIONS 


It has been objected to this perfection, this 
perfect work of God in the soul, that “the greater 
sense we have of our own sinfulness, the more will 
Christ be exalted in the eye of the soul; for, if the 
thing were possible that a man might be cleansed 
from all sin in this life, he would feel no need of 
a Savior; Christ would be undervalued by him 
as no longer needing his saving power.” This ob- 
jection mistakes the whole state of the case. How 
is Christ exalted in the view of the soul? How 
is it that he becomes precious to us? Is it not 
from a sense of what he has done for us; and what 
he has done in us? Did any man ever love God 
till he had felt that God loved him? Do we not 
“love him because he first loved us?” Is it the 
name Jesus that is precious to us? or Jesus the 
Savior saving us from our sins? Is all our con- 
fidence placed in him because of some one saving 
act? or, because of his continual operation as the 
Savior? Can any effect subsist without its cause ? 


Must not the cause continue to operate in order 
15 


16 SANCTIFICATION 


to maintain the effect? Do we value a good cause 
more for the instantaneous production of a good 
and important effect, than we do for its contin- 
ual energy, exerted to maintain that good and 
important effect? All these questions can be an- 
swered by a child. What is it that cleanseth the 
soul and destroys sin? Is it not the mighty pow- 
er of the grace of God? What is it that keeps the 
soul clean? Is it not the same power dwelling 
in us? No more can an effect subsist without its 
cause, than a sanctified soul abide in holiness 
without the indwelling Sanctifier? When Christ 
casts out the strong-armed man, he takes away 
that armor in which he trusted, he spoils his 
goods, he cleanses and enters into the house, so 
that the heart becomes the habitation of God 
through the Spirit. Can then a man undervalue 
that Christ who not only blotted out his imiquity, 
but cleansed his soul from all sin; and whose 
presence and inward, mighty working constitute 
all his holiness and all his happiness? Impossible! 
Jesus was never so highly valued, so intensely 
loved, so affectionately obeyed, as now. The great 
Savior has not his highest glory from his atoning 
and redeeming acts, but from the manifestation 
of his saving power. 

“But the persons who profess to have been made 


SANCTIFICATION ni 


thus perfect are proud and supercilious, and their 
whole conduct says to their neighbor, ‘Stand by, 
I am holier than thou.’” No person that acts so 
has ever received this grace. He is either a hypo- 
crite or a self-deceiver. Those who have received 
it are full of meekness, gentleness, and long-suf- 
fering; they love God with all their hearts, they 
love even their enemies; love the whole human 
family, and are servants of all. They know they 
have nothing but what they have received. In the 
splendor of God’s holiness they feel themselves 
absorbed. They have neither light, power, love, 
nor happiness, but from their indwelling Savior. 
Their holiness, though it fills the soul, yet is only 
a drop from the infinite Ocean. The flame of their 
love, though it penetrate their whole being, is only 
a spark from the incomprehensible Sun of right- 
eousness. In a spirit and in a way which none 
but themselves can fully comprehend and feel, 
they can say and sing: 
“T loathe myself when God I see, 
And into nothing fall; 
Content that Christ exalted be, 
And God is all in all.” 

It has been no small merey to me, that, in the 
course of my religious life, I have met with many 
persons who professed that the blood of Christ 


18 SANCTIFICATION 


had saved them from all sin, and whose profession 
was maintained by an immaculate life; but I 
never knew one of them that was not of the spirit 
above MOwe described. They were men of the 
strongest faith, the purest love, the holiest af- 
fections, the most obedient lives, and the. most 
useful in society. I havé seen such walking with 
God for many years: and as I had the privilege 
of observing their walk in life, so have I been _ 
privileged with their testimony at death, when 
their sun appeared to grow broader and brighter 
at its setting; and, though they came through 
great tribulation, they found that their robes were 
washed and made white through the blood of the 
Lamb. They fully witnessed the grand effects 
which in this life flow from justification, adop- 
tion, and sanctification; namely, assurance of 
God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy 
Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance in the 
same to the end of their lives. O God! let my 
death be like that of these righteous, and let my 
end be like theirs! Amen. 

It is scarcely worth mentioning another objec- 
tion that has been started by- the ignorant, the 
worthless, and the wicked. ‘The people that pro- 
fess this leave Christ out of the question. They 
either think that they have purified their own 


SANCTIFICATION 19 


hearts, or that they have gained their pretended 
perfection by their own merits.” Nothing can be 
more false than this calumny. I know ¢hat peo- 
ple well in whose creed the doctrine of “salvation 
from all sin in this life” is a prominent article. 
But that people hold most conscientiously that 
all our salvation, from the first dawn of hght in 
the soul to its entry into the kingdom of glory, 
is all by and through Christ. He alone convinces 
the soul of sin, justifies the ungodly, sanctifies 
the unholy, preserves in this state of salvation, 
and brings to everlasting blessedness. No soul 
ever was or can be saved but through his agony 
and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, his death 
and burial, his glorious resurrection and ascen- 
sion, and continued intercession at the right hand 
of God. 

If men would but spend as much time in fer- 
vently calling upon God to cleanse the blood that 
he has not cleansed, as they spend in decrying this 
doctrine, what a glorious state of the Church 
should we soon witness! Instead of compounding 
with iniquity, and tormenting their minds to find 
out with how little grace they may be saved, they 
would renounce the devil and all his works; and 
be determined never to rest till they had found 
that He had bruised him under their feet, and 


20 SANCTIFICATION 


that the blood of Christ had cleansed them from 
all unrighteousness. Why is it that men will not 
try how far God will save them? nor leave off 
praying and believing for more and more, till 
they find that God has held his hand? When 
they find that their agonizing faith and prayer 
receive no farther answer, then, and not till then, 
they may conclude that God will be no farther 
gracious, and that he will not save to the utter- 
most them who come to him through Christ Jesus. 


CHAPTER IV. 


ST. PAUL MISUNDERSTOOD 


But it is farther objected, that even St. Paul 
himself denies this doctrine of perfection, dis- 
claiming it in reference to himself: “Not as 
though I had already attained, either were al- 
ready perfect; but I follow after.” Phil. ii, 12. 
This place is mistaken; the apostle is not speak- 
ing of his restoration to the image of God, but 
to completing his ministerial course, and receiv- 
ing the crown of martyrdom. His meaning is 
I have: not yet received the prize; I am not glori- 
fied, for I have not finished my course; and I 
have a conflict still to maintain.. Nor am I as yet 
perfect; I am not yet crowned, in consequence 
of having suffered martyrdom. He is not here 
speaking of any deficiency in his own grace, or 
spiritual state; he does not mean by not being 
yet perfect, that he had a body of sin and death 
cleaving to him, and was still polluted with in- 
dwelling sin, as some have most falsely and dan- 
gerously imagined; he speaks of his not having 
terminated his course by martyrdom, which he 

21 


22 ° SANCTIFICATION 


knew would sooner or later be the case. This he 
considered as the perfection of his whole career, 
and was led to view every thing as imperfect or 
unfinished till this had taken place. There is an- 
other point that has been produced, at least indi-— 
rectly, in the form of an objection to this doctrine. 
“Where are these adult, those perfect Chris- 
tians? We know none such; but we have heard 
that some persons professing those extraordinary 
degrees of holiness have become scandalous in 
their lives.” When a question of this kind is asked 
by one who fears God, and earnestly desires his 
salvation, and only wishes to have full evidence 
that the thing is attainable, that he may shake 
himself from the dust, and arise and go out, and 
possess the good land—it deserves to be seriously 
answered. To such I would say, There may be 
several, even in the circle of your own religious 
acquaintance, whose evil tempers and unholy af- 
fections God has destroyed; and having filled 
them with his own holiness, they are enabled to 
love him with all their heart, soul, mind, and 
strength; and their neighbor as themselves. But 
such make no public professions; their conduct, 
their spirit, the whole tenor of their life, is their 
testimony. Again: there may be none such among 
your religious acquaintance, because they do not. 


SANCTIFICATION 23 


know their privilege, or they unfortunately sit 
under a ministry where the doctrine is decried; 
and in such congregations and Churches holiness 
never abounds; men are tco apt to be slothful, and 
unfaithful to the grace they have received: they 
need not their minister’s exhortations to beware 
of looking for or expecting a heart purified from 
all unrighteousness; striving or agonizing to “en- 
ter in at the strait gate” is not pleasant work to 
flesh and blood; and they are glad to have any 
thing to countenance their spiritual indolence; 
and such ministers have always a powerful coad- 
jutor; the father of les, and the spirit of error 
will work in the unrenewed heart, filling it with 
darkness, and prejudice, and unbelief. No won- 
der, then, that in such places, and under such 
a ministry, there is no man that can be “pre-- 
sented perfect in Christ Jesus.” But wherever 
the trumpet gives a certain sound, and the people 
go forth to battle, headed by the Captain of their 
salvation, there the foe is routed, and genuine be- 
levers brought into the liberty of the children of 
God. 

As to some having professed to have received 
this salvation, and afterwards become scandal- 
ous in their lives—though in all my long minis- 
terial labors, and extensive religious acquaintance, 


24 SANCTIFICATION 


I never found but one example—I would just 
observe that they might possibly have been de- 
ceived: thought they had what they had not; or 
they might have become unfaithful to that grace 
and lest it; and this is pessible through the whole 
range of a state of probation. There have been 
angels who kept not their first estate; and we all 
know, to our cost, that he who was the head and 
fountain of the whole human family, who was 
made in the image and likeness of God, sinned 
against God and fell from that state. And so 
may any of his descendants fall from any degree 
of the grace of God while in their state of preba- 
tion; and any man and every man must fall, 
whenever he or they cease to watch unto prayer, 
and cease to be “workers together with God.” 
Faith must ever be kept in lively exercise, work- 
ing by love: and that love is only safe when found 
exerting its energies in the path of obedience. An 
objection of this kind against the doctrine of 
Christian perfection will apply as_ foreibly 
against the whole revelation of God as it can do 
against one of the doctrines: because that revela- 
tion brings the account of the defection of angels 
and of the fall of man. The truth is, no dectrine 
of God stands upon the knowledge, experience, 
faithfulness, or unfaithfulness of man; it stands 


SANCTIFICATION 25 


on the veracity of God who gave it. If there were 
not a man to be found who was justified freely 
through the redemption that is by Jesus, yet the 
doctrine cf “justification by faith” is true; for 
it is a doctrine that stands on the truth of Ged. 
And suppose not one could be found in all the 
Churches of Christ whose heart was purified from 
all unrighteousness, and who loved God and man 
with all his regenerated powers, yet the doctrine 
of Christian perfection would still be true; for 
Christ was manifested that he might destroy the 
work of the devil; and his blood cleanseth from 
all unrighteousness. And suppose every man be 
a liar, God is true. 

It is not the profession of a doctrine that es- 
tablishes its truth; it is the truth of God, from 
which it has proceeded. Man’s experience may 
illustrate it; but it is God’s truth that confirms 
it. 

In all cases of this nature, we must forever 
cease from man, implicitly credit Ged’s testimony, 
and look to Him in and through whom all the 
promises of God are yea and amen. 

To be filled with God is a great thing; to be 
filied with the fullness of God is still greater; to 
be filled with a// the fullness of Ged is greatest of 
all. This utterly bewilders the sense and confounds 


26 SANCTIFICATION 


the understanding, by leading at once to consider 
the immensity of God, the infinitude of his attri- 
butes, and the absolute perfection of each! But 
there must be a sense in which even this wonder- 
ful petition was understood by the apostle, .and 
may be comprehended by us. Most people, in 
quoting these words, endeavor to correct or ex- 
plain the apostle by adding the word communi- 
cable. But this is as idle as it is useless and im- 
pertinent. Reason surely tells us that St. Paul 
would not pray that they should be filled with 
what could not be communicated. The apostle 
certainly meant what he said, and would be un- 
derstood in his own meaning; and we may soon 
see what this meaning is. 


CHAPTER V. 
THE FULLNESS OF GOD 


By the “fullness of God,” we are to understand 
all the gifts and graces which he has promised 
to bestow on man in order to his full salvation 
here, and his being fully prepared for the enjoy- 
ment of glory hereafter. To be filled with all the 
fullness of God is to have the heart emptied of 
‘and cleansed from all sin and defilement, and 
filled with humility, meekness, gentleness, good- 
ness, justice, holiness, mercy, and truth, and love | 
to God and man. And that this implies a thorough 
emptying of the soul of every thing that is not 
of God, and leads not to him, is evident from this, 
that what God fills neither sin nor Satan can fill, 
nor in any wise occupy; for, if a vessel be filled 
with one fluid or substance, not a drop or particle 
of any other kind can enter it, without displacing 
the same quantum of the original matter as that 
which is afterward introduced. God can not be 
said to fill the whole soul while any place, part, 
passion, or faculty is filled, or less cr more oc- 
cupied by sin or Satan: and as neither sin nor 

27 


28 SANCTIFICATION 


Satan can be where God fills and occupies the 
whole, so the terms of the prayer state that Satan 
shall neither have any dominion over that soul 
nor being in it. A fullness of humility precludes 
all pride; of meekness, precludes anger; of gen- 
tleness, all ferocity; of goodness, all evil; of jus- 
tice, all injustice; of holiness, all sin; of merey, 
all unkindness and revenge; of truth, all falsity 
and dissimulation: and where God is loved with 
all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, there is no 
room for enmity or hatred to him, or to any 
thing connected with him; so, where a man loves 
his neighbor as himself, no ill shall be worked ~ 
to that neighbor; but, on the contrary, every kind 
action, so far as power and circumstances can per- 
mit, will be-done to him. Thus the being filled 
with God’s fullness will produce constant pious, 
and affectionate obedience to him, and unvarying 
benevolence toward one’s neighbor; that is, any 
man, any and every human being. Such a man 
is saved from all-sin; the Jaw is fulfilled in him; 
and he ever possesses and aets under the influence 
of that love te God and man which is the ful- 
filling of the law. It is impossible, with any 
Scriptural or rational consistency, to understand 
these words in any lower sense: but how much 


SANCTIFICATION 29 


more they imply—and more they do imply—who 
can fell? 

Many preachers, and multitudes of professing 
people, are studious to find out how many imper- 
fections and infidelities, and how much inward 
sinfulness, are consistent with a safe state of re- 
ligion; but how few, very few, are bringing out 
the fair Gospel standard to try the height of the 
members of the Church; whether they be fit for 
the heavenly army; whether their stature be such 
as qualifies them for the ranks of the Church mil- 
itant! “the measure of the stature of the full- 
ness” is seldom seen; the measure of the stature 
of littleness, dwarfishness, and emptiness, is often 
exhibited. 

Some say, “The body of sin in believers is, in- 
deed, an enfeebled, conquered, and deposed ty- 
rant, and the stroke of death finishes its destruc- 
tion.” So, then, the death of Christ and the in- 
fluences of the Holy Spirit were only sufficient to 
depose and enfeeble the tyrant sin; but our death 
must come in to effect his total destruction! Thus 
our death is, at least partially, our Savior; and 
thus that which was an effect of sin—“for sin 
entered into the world, and death by sin”—be- 
comes the means of finally destroying it; that is, 
the effect of a cause can become so powerful as 


30 SANCTIFICATION 


to react upon that cause and produce its annihil- 
ation! The divinity and philosophy of this senti- 
ment are equally absurd. It is the blood of Christ 
alone that cleanses from all unrighteousness; and 
the sanctification of a believer is no more depend- 
ent on death than his justification. If it be said 
that “believers do not cease from sin till they 
die,” I have only to say that they are such be- 
lievers as do not make a proper use of their faith: 
and what can be said more of the whole herd of 
transgressors and infidels? They cease to sin 
when they cease to breathe. If the Christian re- 
ligion bring no other privileges than this to its 
upright followers, well may we ask, “Wherein 
doth the wise man differ from the fool, for they 
have both one end?” But the whole Gospel teaches 
a contrary doctrine. 


CHAPTER VI. 
SALVATION FROM SIN 


It is strange there should be found a person 
believing the whole Gospel system and yet living 
in sin! “Salvation from sin” is the long-contin- 
ued sound, as it is the spirit and design, of the 
Gospel. Our Christian name, our baptismal cove- 
nant, our profession of faith in Christ, and 
avowed belief in his word, all call us to this: can 
it be said that we have any louder calls than they ? 
Our self-interest, as it respects the happiness of a 
godly life, and the glories of eternal blessedness— 
the pains and wretchedness of a life of sin, lead- 
ing to the worm that never dies, and the fire that 
is not quenched—second, most powerfully, the 
above calls. Reader, lay these things to heart, and 
answer this question to God: “How shall I escape 
if I neglect so great salvation?” And then, as thy 
conscience shall answer, let thy mind and thy 
hand begin to act. 

As there is no end to the merits of Christ in- 
carnated and crucified; no bounds to the mercy 


and love of God; no let or hindrance to the al- 
31 


32 SANCTIFICATION 


mighty energy and sanctifying influence of the 
Holy Spirit; no limits to the improvability of the 
human soul; so there can be no bounds to the 
saving influence which God will dispense to the 
heart of every genuine believer. We may ask 
and receive, and our joy shall be full! Well may 
we bless and praise God, “who has called us into 
such a state of salvation; a state in which we 
may be thus saved; and, by the grace of that state, 
continue in the same to the end of our lives! 

As sin is the cause of the ruin of mankind, the 
Gospel system, which exhibits its eure, is fitly 
called “good news, or glad tidings;” and it is good 
news, because it proclaims Him who saves his peo- 
ple from their sins; and it would indeed be dis- 
honorable’ to that grace, and the infinite merit 
of Him who procured it, to suppose, much more to 
assert, that sin had made wounds which grace 
would not heal. Of such a triumph Satan shall 
ever be deprived. 

“He that committeth sin is of the devil.” Hear 
this, ye who plead for Baal, and can not bear the 
thought of that doctrine that states believers are 
to be saved from all sin in this life! He who com- 
mitteth sin is a child of the devil, and shows that 
he has still the nature of the devil in him; “for 
the devil sinneth from the beginning:” he was the 


SANCTIFICATION oD 


father of sin—brought sin into the world, and 
maintains sin in the world by living in the hearts 
of his own children, and thus leading them to 
transgression; and persuading others that they 
can not be saved from their sins in this life, that 
he may secure a continual residence in their heart. 
He also knows that if he has a place throughout 
hfe he will probably have it at death; and, if so, 
throughout eternity. 

“That is,” say some, “he does not sin habitual- 
ly as he formerly did.” This is bringing the in- 
fluence and privileges of the heavenly birth very 
low indeed. We have the most indubitable evi- 
dence that many of the heathen philosophers had 
acquired, by mental discipline and cultivation, an 
entire ascendency over all their wonted vicious 
habits. Perhaps my reader will recollect the 
story of the physiognomist, who, coming into the 
place where Socrates was delivering a lecture, his 
pupils, wishing to put the principles of the man’s 
science to proof, desired him to examine the face 
of their master, and say what was his moral char- 
acter XM After a full contemplation of the 
philosopher’s visage, he pronounced him “the 
most gluttonous, drunken, brutal, and lbidinous 
old man he had ever met.” As the character of 
Socrates was the reverse of all this, his disciples 


34 SANCTIFICATION 


began to insult the physiognomist. Socrates in- 
terfered, and said, “The principles of his science 
may be very correct; for such I was, but I have 
conquered it by my philosophy.” O ye Christian 
divines! ye real or pretended Gespel ministers! 
will ye allow the influence of the grace of Christ 
a sway not even so extensive as that of the phil- 
osophy of a heathen who never heard of the 
true God? 

Many tell us that “no man can be saved from 
sin in this life.” Will these persons permit us to 
ask, How much sin may we be saved from in this 
life? Something must be ascertained on this sub- 
ject: 1. That the soul may have some determin- 
ate object in view. 2. That it may not lose its 
time, or employ its faith and energy, in praying 
for what is impossible to be attaimed. Now, as 
Christ was manifested to take away our sins, to 
destroy the works of the devil, and as his blood 
cleanseth from all sin and unrighteousness, is it 
not evident that God means that believers in 
Christ shall be saved from all sin? Fer if his 
bleod cleanses from all sin, if he destroys the 
works of the devil—and sin is the work of the 
devil—and if he who is born of Ged does not com- 
mit sin, then he must be cleansed from all sin; 
and while he continues in that state he lives with- 


SANCTIFICATION 35 


out sinning against.God, for the seed of God re- 
maineth in him, and he can not sin, because he is 
born, or begotten, of God. 

How strangely warped and blinded by pre- 
judice and system must men be who, in the face of 
such evidence as this, will still dare to maintain 
that no man can be saved from his sin in this 
life; but must daily commit sin in thought, word, 
and deed, as the Westminster divines have assert- 
ed! that is, every man is laid under the fatal ne- 
cessity of sinning as many ways against God as 
the devil dees through his natural wickedness and 
malice; for even the devil himself can have no 
other way of sinning against God, exeept by 
thought, word, and deed. And yet, according to 
these and others of the same creed, “even the most 
regenerate sin against God as long as they live.” 
It is a miserable salvo to say “they do not sin so 
much as they used to do; and they do not sin 
habitually, only occasionally.” Alas for this sys- 
tem! Could not the grace that saved them par- 
tially save them perfectly? Could not that pow- 
er of God that saved them from habitual sin save 
them from cccasional or accidental sin? Shall 
we suppose that sin, how potent scever it may be, 
is as potent as the Spirit and grace of Christ? 
And yet may we not ask, If it was for God’s glory 


36 SANCTIPICATION 


and their good that they were partially saved, 
would it not have been more for Ged’s glory and 
their good if they had been perfectly saved? But 
the letter and spirit of Ged’s word, and the de- 
sign and end of Christ’s coming, is to save his 
people from their sins. 

The perfection of the gospel system is not that 
it makes allowance for sin, but that it makes an 
atonement for it; not that it telerates sin, but that 
it destroys it. 


CHAPTER VII. 
THE REMEDY ADEQUATE 


However inveterate the disease of sin may be, 
the grace of the Lord Jesus can fully cure it. 

God sets no bounds to the communications of 
his grace and Spirit to them that are faithful. 
And as there areno bounds to the graces, so there 
should be none to the exercise of those graces. 
No man can ever feel that he loves God teo much, 
or that he loves man too much for Ged’s sake. 

Be so purified and refined in your souls, by the 
indwelling Spirit, that even the light of Ged 
shining into your hearts shall not be able to dis- 
cover a fault that the love of God has not purged 
away. 

“Be thou perfect, and thou shalt be perfec- 
tions;” that is, altogether perfect: be just such as 
the holy God would have thee to be, as the al- 
mighty God can make thee, and live as the all- 
sufficient God can support thee; for He alone 
who makes the soul holy can preserve it in holi- 
ness. Our blessed Lord appears to have these 
words pointedly in view: “Ye shall be perfect, 

37 


38 SANCTIFICATION 


as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” 
Matt. v, 48. But what does this imply? Why, 
to be saved from all the power, the guilt, and the 
contamination of sin. This is enly the negative 
part of salvation, but it has also a positive part; 
to be made perfect—to be perfect as our Father 
who is in heaven is perfect, to be filled with the 
fullness of God, to have Christ dwelling contin- 
ually in the heart by faith, and to be rooted and 
grounded in love. This is the in which man 
was created; for he was mad inthe image and 
likeness of God. This is the state from which 
man fell; for he broke the command of God. And 
this is the state into which every human soul 
must be raised who would dwell with Ged in 
glory; for Christ was incarnated and died to put 
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. What a 
glorious privilege! And who can doubt the pos- 
sibility of its attainment who believes in the omni- 
potent leve of God, the infinite merit of the blood 
of atonement, and the all-pervading and all-puri- 
fying energy of the Holy Ghost? How many mis- 
erable souls employ that time to dispute and cavil 
against the possibility of being saved from their 
sins, which they should devote to praying and 
believing that they might be saved out of the 
hands of their enemies! But some may say, “You 


SANCTIFICATION 39 


overstrain the meaning of the term; it signifies 
only, Be sincere; for, as perfect obedience is im- 
possible, God accepts of sincere obedience.” If by 
sincerity the objection means “good desires, and 
generally good purposes, with an impure heart 
and spotted life,” then I assert that no such thing 
is implied in the text, nor in the original word. 
But if the word sincerity be taken in its proper 
and literal sense, I have no objection to it. Sin- 
cere is compounded of sine cera, “without wax;” 
and, applied to moral subjects, is a metaphor 
taken from clarified honey, from which every 
atom of the comb or wax is separated. Then let it 
be proclaimed from heaven, “Walk before me, and 
be sincere. Purge out the old leaven, that ye 
shall be perfect, as your Father who is in heaven 
is perfect.” This is sincerity. Reader, remember 
that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. 
Ten thousand quibbles on insulated texts can nev- 
er lessen, much less destroy, the merit and efficacy 
of the great atonement. 

God never gives a precept, but he offers suf- 
ficient grace to enable thee to perform it. Believe 
as he would have thee, and act as he shall 
strengthen thee, and thou wilt believe all things 
savingly, and do all things well. 


CHAPTER VILE 
WHY WE SHOULD BE HOLY 


God is holy; and this is the eternal reason 
why all his people should be holy—should be 
purified from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
perfecting holiness in the fear of Ged. No faith 
in any particular creed, no observance, no acts of 
benevolence and charity, no mortification, attri- 
tion, or contrition, can be a substitute for this. 
We must be made partakers of the divine nature. 
We must be saved from our sins—from the cor- 
ruption ‘that is in the world, and be holy within 
and righteous without, or never see God. For 
this very purpose Jesus Christ lived, died, and re- 
vived, that he might purify us unto himself; that 
through faith in his blood our sins might be blot- 
ted out, and our souls restored to the image of 
God. Reader, art thou hungering and thirsting 
after righteousness? Then blessed art thou, for 
thou shalt be filled. 

God is ever ready, by the power of his Spirit, 
to carry us forward to every degree of life, light, 
and love, necessary to prepare us for an eternal 

40 


SANCTIFICATION 41 


weight of glory ‘There can be little difficulty in 
attaining the end of our faith, the salvation of 
our souls from all sin, if God carry us forward 
to it; and this he will do, if we submit to be saved 
in his own way, and on his own terms. Many 
make a violent outcry against the doctrine of 
perfection; that is, against the heart. being 
cleansed from all sin in this life, and filled with 
love to God and man; because they judge it to 
be impossible! Is it too much to say of these, 
that they know neither the Scripture nor the pow- 
er of God? Surely the Scripture promises the 
thing, and the power of God can carry us on to 
the possession of it. . 

The object of all God’s promises and dispensa- 
tions was to bring fallen man back to the image of 
God, which he had lost. This, indeed, is the sum 
and substance of the religion of Christ. We have 
partaken of an earthly, sensual, and devilish na- 
ture; the design of God, by Christ, is to remove 
this, and to make us partakers of the divine na- 
ture, and save us from all the corruption, in prin- 
ciple and fact, which is in the world. 

It is said that Enoch not only “walked with 
God,” setting him always before his eyes—begin- 
ning, continuing, and ending every work to his 


5) 
glory—but also that “he pleased God,” and had 


42 SANCTIFICATION 


“the testimony that he did please God.” Hence we 
learn that it was then possible to live so as not to 
offend God; consequently, so as not to commit sin 
against him, and to have the continual evidence 
or testimony that all that a man did and pur- 
posed was pleasing in the sight of Him who 
searches the heart, and by whom devices are 
weighed; and if it was pessible then, it is surely 
through the same grace, possible now; and God, 
and Christ, and faith are still the same. 

The petition, “Thy will be done in earth, as 
it is in heaven,” certainly points out a deliver- 
ance from all sin; for nothing that is unholy can 
consist with the Divine will; and, if this be ful- 
filled in man, surely sin shall be banished from 
his soul. Again; the holy angels never mingle 
iniquity with their loving cbedience; and, as our 
Lord teaches us to pray that we do his will here 
as they do it in heaven, can it be thought he would 
put a petition into our mouths the fulfillment of 
which was impossible? 

The reader is probably amazed at the paucity 
of large stars in the whole firmament of heaven. 
Will he permit me to carry his mind a little 
further, and either stand astonished at, or deplore 
with me the fact that, out of the millions of 


SANCTIFICATION 43 


Christians in the vicinity and splendor of the 
eternal Sun of righteousness, how very few are 
found of the first order! 


CHAPTER IX. 
A TEST 


How very few can stand examination by the 
test laid down in 1 Cor. xii! How very few 
love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and 
strength, and their neighbor as themselves! How 
few mature Christians are found in the Church! 
How few are, in all things, living for eternity! 
How little light, how little heat, and how little in- 
fluence and activity, are to be found among them 
that bear the name of Christ! How few stars of 
the first magnitude will the Son of God have to 
deck the crown of his glory! Few are striving to 
excel in righteousness: and it seems to be a prin- 
cp q concern with many, to find out how little 
grate they may have, and yet escape hell; how 
little conformity to the will of God they may have 
and yet get to heaven. In the fear of God I 
register this testimony, that I have perceived it 
to be the labor of many to lower the standard of 
Christianity, and to soften down, or explafin 
away, those promises of God that himself has 


linked with duties; and, because they know they 
44 


SANCTIFICATION 45 


can not be saved by their good works, they are 
content to have no good works at all: and thus 
the necessity of Christian obedience, and Chris- 
tian holiness, makes no prominent part of some 
modern creeds. Let all those who retain the apos- 
tolic doctrine, that the blood of Christ cleanseth 
from all sin in this life, press every believer to go 
on to perfection, and expect to be saved, while 
here below, into the fullness of the blessing of the 
Gospel of Jesus. To all such my soul says, Labor 
to show yourselves approved unto God; workmen 
that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the 
word of truth; and may the pleasure of the Lord 
prosper in your hands! Amen. 

Many employ that time in brooding and mourn- 
ing over their impure hearts, which should be 
spent in prayer and faith before Ged. that their . 
impurities might be washed away. In what a 
state of nonage are many members of the Chris- 
tian Church! 

IT am afraid that what some persons call their 
infirmities may rather be called their strengths; 
the prevailing and frequently ruling power of 
pride, anger, ill will, etc.; for how few think evil 
tempers to be sins! The gentle term “infirmities” 
softens down the iniquity; and as St. Paul, so 
great and so holy a man, say they, had his in- 


46 SANCTIFICATION 


firmities, how can they expect to be without 
theirs? These should know that they are in a 
dangerous error; that St. Paul means nothing of 
the kind; for he speaks of his sufferings, and of 
these alone. One word more: would not the grace — 
and power of Christ appear more conspicuous 
in slaying the lion than in keeping him chained? 
in destroying sin, reot and branch, and filling 
the soul with his own holiness, with leve to God 
and man, with the mind, all the holy, heavenly 
tempers that were in himself, than in leaving 
these impure and unholy tempers ever to live, and 
often to reign, in the heart? The doctrine is 
discreditable to the Gospel, and wholly anti- 
christian. 

“Tf they sin against thee, for there is no man 
that sinneth not.” 1 Kings vin, 46. On this 
verse we may observe that the second clause, as 
it is here translated, renders the supposition in 
the first clause entirely nugatory: for if there be 
no man that sinneth not, it is useless to say, “If 
they sin;” but this contradiction is taken away 
by reference to the original, which should be 
translated, “If they shall sin against thee;” or, 
“Should they sin against thee; for there is no 
man that may not sin;” that is, There is no man 
impeccable; none infallible; none that is not li- 


SANCTIFICATION 47 


ale to transgress. This is the true meaning of the 
phrase in various parts of the Bible, and so our 
translators have understcod the original; for, 
even in the thirty-first verse of this chapter, they 
have translated yecheta, “If a man trespass;” 
which certainly implies he might or might not 
do it; and’ in this way they have translated the 
same word, “If a soul sin,” in Lev. v, 1; vi, 2; 1 
Sam. ii, 25; 2 Chron. vi, 22; and in several other 
places. The truth is, the Hebrew has no mood to 
express words in the permissive or optative way; 
but to express this sense, it uses the future tense of 
the conjugation /:a/. This text has been a wonder- 
ful stronghold for all who believe that there is no 
redemption from sin in this life; and that we can 
not be entirely freed from it till we die. 1. The 
text speaks no such doctrine; it only speaks of 
the possibility of every man sinning; and this 
must be true of a state of probation. 2. There is 
not another text in the divine records that is more 
to the purpose than this. 3. The doctrine is flatly 
in opposition to the design of the Gospel; for 
Jesus came to save his people from their sins, 
and to destroy the works of the devil. 4. It isa 
dangerous and destructive doctrine, and should be 
blotted out of every Christian’s creed. There 
are too many who are seeking to excuse their 


48 SANCTIFICATION 


crimes by all means in their power; and we need 
not embody their excuses in a creed, to complete 
their deception, by stating that their sins are un- 
avoidable. 

The soul was made for God, and can never be 
united to him, nor-be happy, till saved from sin. 
He who is saved from his sin, and united to God, 
possesses the utmost felicity that the human soul 
can enjoy, either in this or the coming world. 

Where a soul is saved from all sin, it is capable 
of being fully employed in the work of the Lord: 
it is then, and not till then, fully fitted for the 
Master’s use. 

All who are taught of Christ are not only saved, 
but their understandings are much improved. 
True religion, civilization, mental improvement, 
common sense, and orderly behavior, go hand in 
hand. 

When the light of Christ dwells fully in the 
heart, it extends its influence to every thought, 
word, and action; and directs its possessor how 
he is to act in all places and circumstances. 

Our souls can never be truly happy till our 
wills be entirely subjected to, and become one 
with, the will of God. 

While there is an empty, longing heart, there 
is a continual overflowing fountain of salvation. 


SANCTIFICATION 49 


If we find, in any place, or at any time, that the 
oil ceases to flow, it is because there are no empty 
vessels there; no souls hungering and thirsting 
for righteousness. We find fault with the dispen- 
sations of God’s mercy, and ask, “Why were the 
former days better than these?” Were we as much 
in earnest for our salvation as our forefathers 
were for theirs, we should have equal supplies, 
and as much reason to sing aloud of Divine 
mercy. 

“Be ye holy,” saith the Lord, “for I am holy.” 
He who can give thanks at the remembrance of 
his holiness is one who loves holiness; who hates 
sin; who longs to be saved from it, and takes en- 
couragement at the recollection of God’s holiness, 
as he seeth in this the holy nature which he is to 
share, and the perfection which he is here to at- 
tain. But most who call themselves Christians 
hate the doctrine of holiness; never hear it incul- 
cated without pain; and the principal part of 
their studies, and those of their pastors, is to 
find out with how little holiness they can ration- 
ally expect to enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
O, fatal and soul-destroying delusion! How long 
will a holy God suffer such abominable doctrines 
to pollute his Church, and destroy the souls of 
men! 


50 SANCTIFICATION 


Increase in the image and favor of God. Every 
grace and divine influence which ye have re- 
ceived is a seed, a heavenly seed, which, if it be 
watered with the dew of heaven from above, will 
endlessly increase and multiply itself. He who 
continues to believe, love, and obey, will 
grow in grace, and continually increase in 
the knowledge of Jesus Christ, as his Sacrifice, 
Sanctifier, Counselor, Preserver, and final Savior. 


CHAPTER X. 
NECESSITY OF SANCTIFICATION 


The life of a Christian is a growth; he is at first 
born of God, and is a little child: becomes a young 
man and a father in Christ. Every father was 
once an infant; and, had he not grown, he would 
never have been a man. Those who content them- 
selves with the grace they received when con- 
verted to God are, at best, in a continual state of 
infancy ; but we find, in the order of nature, that 
the infant that does not grow, and grow daily, too, 
is sickly, and soon dies; so, in the order of grace, 
those who do not grow up into Jesus Christ are 
sickly, and will soon die—die to all sense and in- 
fluence of heavenly things. There are many who 
boast of the grace of their conversion; persons 
who were never more than babes, and have long 
since lost even that grace, because they did not 
grow in it. Let him that readeth understand. 

In order to get a clean heart, a man must know 
and feel its depravity, acknowledge and deplore 
it before God, in order to be fully sanctified. 


Few are pardoned, because they do not feel and 
51 


52 SANCTIFICATION 


confess their sins; and few are sanctified and 
cleansed from all sin, because they do not feel 
and confess their own sore and the plague of 
their hearts. As the blood of Jesus Christ, the 
merit of his passion and death, applied by faith, 
purges the conscience from all dead works, so the 
same cleanses the heart from all unrighteousness. 
As all unrighteousness is sin, so he that is cleansed 
from all unrighteousness is cleansed from all sin. 
To attempt to evade this, and plead for the con- 
tinuance of sin in the heart through life, is un- 
grateful, wicked, and blasphemous; for, as he who 
says he has not sinned makes Ged a har, who 
has declared the contrary through every part of 
his revelation, so he that says the blood of Christ 
either can not or will not cleanse us from all sin 
in this life gives also the lie to his Maker, who has 
declared the contrary, and thus shows that the 
word, the doctrine of God, is not in him. Reader, 
it is the birthright of every child of Ged to be 
cleansed from all sin, to keep himself unspotted 
from the world, and so to live as never more to 
offend his Maker. All things are possible to him 
that believeth, because all things are possible to 
the infinitely-meritorious blood and _ energetic 
Spirit of the Lord Jesus. 

Every man whose heart is full of the love of 


SANCTIFICATION 53 


God is full of humility; for there is no man so 
humble as he whose heart is cleansed from all 
sin. It has been said that indwelling sin humbles 
us; never was there a greater falsity; pride is the 
very essence of sin; he who has sin has pride; and 
pride, too, in proportion to his sin; this is a mere 
Popish doctrine; and, strange to tell, the doctrine 
on which their doctrine of merit is founded! They 
say, God leaves concupiscence in the heart of 
every Christian, that, in striving with and over- 
coming it from time to time, he may have an ac- 
cumulation of meritorious acts. Certain Protes- 
tants say, “It is a true sign of a very gracious 
state when a man feels and deplores his inbred 
corruption.” How near do these come to the 
Papists, whose doctrine they profess to detest and 
abhor! The truth is, it is no sign of grace what- 
ever; it only argues, as they use it, that the man 
has got light to show him his corruptions, but he 
has not yet got grace to destroy them. He is 
convinced that he should have the mind of Christ, 
but he feels that he has the mind cf Satan; he 
deplores it; and, if his bad doctrine do not pre- 
vent him, he will not rest till he feels the blood 
of Christ cleansing him from all sin. 

Can any man expect to be saved from his in- 
ward sin in the other world? None, except such 


54 SANCTIFICATION 


as hold the Popish, antiscrip ; 
purgatory. S 


CHAPTER XI 
SOME MISCONCEPTIONS : 


“But this deliverance is expected at death.” 
Where is the promise that it shall then be given? 
There is not one such in the whole Bible. And to 
believe for a thing essential to our glorification, 
without any promise to support that faith in 
reference to the point on which it is exercised, is 
a desperation that argues as well the absence of 
true faith as it does of right reason. Multitudes 
of such persons are continually deploring their 
want of faith, even where they have the clearest 
and most explicit promises; and yet, strange to 
tell, risk their salvation at the hour of death on 
a deliverance that is no where promised in the 
sacred oracles! “But who has got this blessing?” 
Every one who has come to Ged in the right way 
for it. “Where is such a one?” Seek the bless- 
ing as you should do, and vou will scon be able 
to answer the question. “But it is too great a 
blessing to be expected.” Nothing is too great 
for a believer to expect which God _ has 
promised, and Christ has purchased with his 


blood. “If I had such a blessing, I should not be 
55 


56 SANCTIFICATION 


able to retain it.” All things are possible to him 
that believeth. Besides, like al! other gifts of Ged, 
it comes with a principle of preservation with it: 
“Antd-upon all thy glory there shall be a defense.” 
“Still, such an unfaithful person as I can not 
expect it.” Perhaps the infidelity you deplore 
came through the want of this blessing; and as 
to worthlessness, no soul under heaven deserves 
the least of God’s mercies. It is not for thy worth- 
iness that he has given thee any thing, but for 
the sake of his Son. You can say, “When I felt 
myself a sinner, sinking into perdition, I did then — 
flee to the atoning blood, and found pardon; but 
this sanctification is a far greater work.” No; 
speaking after the manner of men, justification 
is far greater than sanctification. | When thou 
wert a sinner, ungodly, an enemy in thy mind by 
wicked works, a child of the devil, an heir of hell, 
God pardoned thee on thy casting thy soul on the 
merit of the great sacrificial Offermg: thy sen- 
tence was reversed, thy state was changed, thou 
wert put among the children, and Ged’s Spirit 
witnessed with thine that thou wert his child. 
What a change! and what a blessing! What, 
then, is this complete sanctification? It is the 
cleansing of the blood that has not been cleansed ; 
it is the washing the soul of a true believer from 


SANCTIFICATION Dil 


the remains of sin; it is the making one who is 
already a child of God more holy, that he may be 
more happy, more useful in the world, and bring 
more glory to his heavenly Father. Great ag this 
work is, how little, humanly speaking, is it when 
compared with what God has already done for 
thee! But suppose it were ten thousand times 
greater, is any thing too hard for God? Are not 
all things possible to him that believes? And 
dees not the blood of Christ cleanse from all un- 
righteousness? Arise, then, and be baptized with 
a greater effusion of the Holy Ghost, and wash 
away thy sin, calling on the name of the Lord. 

Art thou weary of that carnal mind which is 
enmity to God? Canst thou be happy while thou 
art unholy? Dost thou know any thing of God’s 
love to thee? Dost thou not know that he has 
given his Son to die for thee? Dost thou love 
him in return for his love? Hast thou even a 
little love to him? And canst thou love him a 
little, without desiring to love him more? Dost 
thou not feel that thy happiness grows in propor- 
tion to thy love and subjection to him? Dost 
thou not wish to be happy ? 

And dost thou not know that holiness and hap- 
piness are as inseparable as sin and misery? 
Canst thou have too much happiness or too much 


58 SANCTIFICATION 


holiness? Canst thou be made holy and happy 
too soon? Art thou not weary of a sinful heart? 
Ave not thy bad tempers, pride, anger, peevish- 
NeSSy fretfulness, covetousness, and the various 
unholy passions that too often agitate thy soul, 
a source of misery and woe to thee? And canst 
thou be unwilling to have them destroyed? Arise, 
then, and shake thyself from the dust, and call 
upon thy God! His ear is not heavy that it can 
not hear; his hand is not shortened that it can not 
save. Behold, now is the accepted time! Now is 
the day of salvation! It was necessary that Jesus 
Christ should die for thee, that thou mightest be 
saved: but he gave up his life for thee eighteen 
hundred years ago! and himself invites thee to 
come, for all things are now ready. Such is the 
nature of God that he can not be more willing 
to save thee in any future time than he is now. 
He wills that thou shouldst love him now with 
all thy heart; but he knows that thou canst not 
thus love him till the enmity of the carnal mind 
is removed; and this he is willing this moment 
to destroy. The power of the Lord is, therefore, 
present to heal. Turn from every sin; give up 
every idol; cut off every right hand; pluck out 
every right eye. Be willing to part with thy 
enemies that thou mayest receive thy chief friend. 


SANCTIFICATION 59 


Thy day is far spent, the night is at hand, the 
graves are ready for thee, and here thou hast no 
abiding city. A month, a week, a day, an hour, 
yea, even a moment, may send thee into eternity. 
And if thou die in thy sins, where God is thou 
shalt: never come. Do not expect redemption in 
death: it can do nothing for thee even under the 
best consideration: it is thy last enemy. Remem- 
ber, then, that nothing but the blood of Jesus can 
cleanse thee from all unrighteousness. Lay hold, 
therefore, cn the hope that is set before thee. 
The gate may appear strait; but strive, and thou 
shalt pass through. “Come unto me,” says Jesus. 
Hear his voice, believe at all risks, and struggle 
into Ged. Amen and Amen. 

In no part of the Scriptures are we directed to 
seek holiness gradatim. We are to come to God as 
well for an instantaneous and complete purifica- 
tion from all sin, as for an instantaneous pardon. 
Neither the serviatim pardon, nor the gradatim 
purification, exists in the Bible. It is when the 
soul is purified from all sin that it can properly 
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord 
Jesus Christ: as the field may be expected to.pro- 
duce a good crop, and al! the seed vegetate, when 
the thorns, thistles, briers, and noxious weeds of 
every kind are grubbed out of it. 


CHAPTER XII. 
THE BLESSING OBTAINABLE NOW 


From every view of the subject, 1t appears that 
the blessing of a clean heart, and the happiness 
consequent on it, may be cbtained in this hfe; 
because here, not in the future world, are we to be 
saved. Whenever, therefore, such blessings are 
offered, they may be received. Every sinner is 
exhorted to turn from the evil of his way, to re- 
pent of sin, and supplicate the throne of grace for 
pardon. In the same moment in which he is com- 
manded to turn, in that moment he may and 
should return. He dces not receive the exhorta- 
ticn to repentance today that he may become a 
penitent at some future time. Every penitent is 
exhorted to believe on the Lord Jesus that he may 
receive remission of sins. .He does not, he can 
not understand that the blessing thus promised 
is not to be received teday, but at some future 
time.. In hke manner, to every believer the new 
heart and the right spirit are offered in the pres- 
ent moment; that they may, i that moment, be 
received. For as the work of cleansing and re- 

60 


SANCTIFICATION 61 


newing the heart is the work of God, his almighty 
power can perform it in a moment, in the twink- 
ling of an eye. And as it is this moment our 
duty to love God with all our heart, and we can 
not do this till he cleanse our hearts, consequently 
he is ready to do it at this moment, because he 
wills that we should in this moment love him. 
Therefore, we may justly say, “Now is the accept- 
ed time, now is the day of salvation.” He who in 
the beginning caused light in a moment to shine 
out of darkness, can in a moment shine into our 
hearts, and give us to see the light of his glory 
in the face of Jesus Christ. This moment, there- 
fore, we may be emptied of sin, filled with holi- 
ness, and become truly happy.. 

Such cleansed people never forget the horrible 
pit and miry clay out of which they have been 
brought. And can they then be proud? No! 
they loathe themselves in their own sight. They 
can never forgive themselves for having sinned 
against so good a God and so loving a Savior. 
And can they undervalue Him by whose blood 
they were bought, and by whose blood they 
were cleansed? No! That is impossible: they 
now see Jesus as they ought to see him; they see 
him in his splendor, because they feel him in his 
victory and triumph over sin. To them that thus 


62 SANCTIFICATION 


believe he is precious; and he was never so pre- 
cious as now. As to their not needing him when 
thus saved from their sins, we may as well say, 
As soon may the creation not need the sustaining 
hand of God, because the works are finished! 
Learn this, that as it requires the same power 
to sustain creation as to produce it, so it requires 
the same Jesus who cleansed to keep clean. They 
feel that it is only through his continued indwell- 
ing that they are kept holy, and happy, and use- 
ful. Were he to leave them, the original darkness 
and kingdom of death would soon be restored. 


The Way of Holiness 


By 
Phoebe Palmer 


HIS remarkable work is a clear 
portrayal of the way of holiness 
as experienced and exemplified in 
the life of the sainted Phoebe Palmer. 
No more definite testimony to the 
power of God through faith can be 
found than is here given. 
No one can afford to be without 
this book. 


64 pp., paper cover, 10c.; pebble cloth, 15c.; 
cloth, 25c. 


Pusuisuine House of the 
PENTECOSTAL CHURCH oF THE NAZARENE 
2109 Troost AVENUE 
IXKANSAS CITY 
Mo. 


WcO89solog 


UTA 


Seueiqr Ausseaiup) ayn [a] 


